KARACHI (Reuters) - The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) stood by its decision to hand a five-year ban to Shoaib Akhtar as opinion remained divided over the severity of the punishment dished out to the controversial fast bowler.

"The appellate panel would be headed by the board Chairman and Shoaib can have the ban reviewed," Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB's chief operating officer, told Reuters on Wednesday.

"But we don't think it is an unjust decision of the disciplinary committee," he said.

Shoaib, who was banned after a string of disciplinary violations, told a news conference on Wednesday he would be filing an appeal in the next 48 hours.

"I will not go down without a fight. If the board rejects my appeal I will go to the High Court and Supreme Court to get justice," he said.

The fast bowler has often courted controversy.

He escaped a doping ban in December 2006 when he appealed against a two-year suspension after he tested positive for a banned substance earlier that year.

He was put on a two-year probation and banned for 13 international matches last October for breaches of discipline, including hitting team mate Mohammad Asif with a bat.

He then criticised the PCB after he was dropped from the list of central contracts earlier this year.

PROBLEMATIC CHARACTER

Five parliamentarians, led by a member of the ruling Muslim League Nawaz party, have filed a motion in the National Assembly in protest at the ban.

Parliamentarian Hanif Abbasi told a news conference the board action was unacceptable as it did not have a democratic constitution.

"If the board does not relent we will get this ban overturned in parliament," Abbasi said.

Dozens of protesters also held demonstrations in Shoaib's hometown of Rawalpindi demanding the board officials be sacked by the government and for the ban to be overturned.

Protesters also hoisted Shoaib on their shoulders as he came out of his news conference in Islamabad.

Pakistan's World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan criticised the board for imposing the ban insisting they had turned Pakistan cricket into a joke.

"I don't say he should not have been banned because he has been a problematic character for years now. But this is not the way to do it."

Javed Miandad, another former Pakistan skipper, said the PCB decision was too hasty.

"You can't try to end a senior player's career with one stroke of the pen," he told Reuters.

But former test players Ramiz Raja and Mohsin Khan supported the ban, suggesting Shoaib had become too big for his boots.

"No one is bigger than the game and he had it coming because of his attitude problems," Raja said.